 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
 "Photo: Courtesy of Tibor Nagy")
After escaping a war-torn country, taking refuge in the United States, earning his bachelor’s degree at Texas Tech and spending 25 years in Africa as a U.S. diplomat, Ambassador Tibor Nagy’s life has been nothing short of an Indiana Jones sequel.
Thirty-seven years after Nagy graduated from Tech, he returned as the vice provost for the Office of International Affairs and teaches a class about Africa once a semester.
At 7-years-old, many children spend their evenings enjoying a bowl of macaroni in the shape of the Flintstones and watching the Disney Channel. At age 7, Nagy escaped from Hungary with his father in the middle of the night amidst machine gun fire and the echoing barks of search dogs.
During the Hungarian Revolution in October 1956 Nagy’s father’s life was in jeopardy.
“My dad was a high-ranking army officer,” Nagy said. “And when the Soviets came back with thousands of tanks in early November, my dad knew his time was up, that if he stuck around he would be executed.”
After being told the two were going to go for a picnic, Nagy and his father boarded a train to a town on the Austrian border.
“Thinking back, I realize he told me we were going on a picnic in case we were intercepted by the secret police,” Nagy said, smiling. “If they questioned me, I would in all truth tell them we were going on a picnic.”
The two arrived in a village near the border and stayed until night. Under the blanket of darkness, Nagy and his father, along with about a dozen other refugees, fled the country.
“We crossed fields, hills and frozen lakes,” he said. “We were wet and cold. At one point, we saw searchlights in the distance and heard dogs and machine gun fire. We all got down in the bitterly cold snow and stayed that way for about 10 minutes.”
The party eventually made it to Vienna, where Nagy said he remembers feeling scared of new surroundings, new people and a new language he could not understand.
The first Americans Nagy and his father met were members of the embassy in Vienna, who he said treated them with honest kindness.
“I said to myself, ‘If I ever make it to America, my dream is to become an American diplomat,’” Nagy said. “And as we all know, some dreams do come true.”
Fast forward to November 2009, 53 years after Nagy’s snowy getaway, when he continues to share the experiences he had in Africa to students one semester each year. When he is not teaching, Nagy runs international programs at Tech.
His decision to return to Tech came from his love of the university that gave him the tools to succeed as a diplomat and his passion for teaching.
“When I first entered into diplomacy, most people came from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other schools of that nature,” he said. “What I came to face with was, ‘Who are you kidding — coming from Texas Tech?’ However, I was the first in my class to be promoted, become ambassador and deputy ambassador. So, at that point, Texas Tech University was not to be trifled with.”
Nagy said Tech prepared him academically and socially to face the real world after college.
“So I have to say — I tell parents and prospective students this — unequivocally, TTU will prepare their students for whatever field their kids want to get into,” Nagy said.
He said he teaches a course about contemporary Africa that replicates the course the Department of State teaches its diplomats before they go off on their first assignments, “so my students could go off to Africa and make sense of things.”
The American perception of Africa is one created by movies and TV shows, he said.
“Americans know nothing about Africa in general,” Nagy said. “When they think about Africa, it’s usually in a very negative context, and I love presenting the continent as it is — with the problems but also with its promises.”
Emily Baucom, a sophomore speech pathology major from Big Lake, enrolled in the ambassador’s course because she said she believed it would be a more interesting way of earning humanities credits.
“I love it,” Baucom said. “He’s really awesome; you can tell that he knows so much but he doesn’t shove it down your throat. He’s really good at helping us learn.”
Baucom said she would recommend his course to any student, and Nagy’s presence at Tech is evidence of the university’s prestigious stature.
“I think it’s a big testament to Tech and the program we have that we have him here,” she said. “It’s really cool that he was willing to come back and teach the class to promote knowledge of Africa in America. He could be doing anything he wanted, but he came back to teach.”
Jane Bell, director of the International Cultural Center, was a member on Nagy’s selection committee and has enjoyed working with him for seven years.
“It’s so interesting to have someone on our campus who can talk to our students about State Department careers,” Bell said. “It is a unique opportunity to have a former ambassador speak with so much enthusiasm and knowledge about living and working abroad and what its like being a diplomat.
“While reviewing applicants for the position, I thought, ‘All these men and women are so brilliant; however, Tibor, would bring such a wealth of experience that is out of the ordinary.”
During his time as a student at Tech, Tibor Nagy met his wife, Jane Nagy, who recognizes her husband’s love for diplomacy and other cultures.
“He really feels a calling almost to help people be aware of the greater world they live in,” she said. “He always had an interest in how the world works. I think he’s just amazing.”
Tibor Nagy loves his country, and withdraws from receiving praise for his numerous accomplishments, his wife said.
“He never looks for glory for himself, always solution to the next problem,” she said. “I don’t know if the man has ever had a job because he’s always doing stuff he loves to do.”
